Thursday, 30 May 2013

Case adjourned to find
interpreterA Lithuanian man facing charges of driving without
insurance or a licence at Street has had his case adjourned for an interpreter
to be present.Darius Poskus, aged 21, of Anthony Road, appeared
before Somerset Magistrates sitting at Yeovil charged with the two offences
alleged to have been committed at Glaston Road on October 9 last year.Due to difficulties in the defendant's
comprehension of the court proceedings the matters were adjourned until June 3
so he could have the assistance of an interpreter. Until then he was released
on unconditional bail.

Thursday, 23 May 2013

[…] "But given the Ministry of Justice’s lamentable
track record, the chances that they will go according to plan are just about
nil. When the ministry introduced a far simpler scheme to centralise bookings
for legal interpreters the result, as we all now know, was courtroom chaos that
continues to this day.

The whole fiasco was described by Margaret Hodge,
chair of the Public Accounts Committee: “… Total chaos... there has been a
sharp rise in delayed, postponed and abandoned trials; individuals have been
kept on remand solely because no interpreter was available; and the quality of
interpreters has at times been appalling. Despite this, the Ministry has only
penalised the supplier a risible £2,200. This is an object-lesson in how not to
contract out a public service.”

The ministry’s handling of the ALS contract has
been so cack-handed — and still is — that it is impossible even to guess the
amount of money wasted in adjournments and unnecessary remands, to say nothing
of the misery and injustice caused to witnesses and defendants. Many
interpreters have simply packed up and left the profession to the unqualified
and untrained amateurs that the “reformed” system now relies upon.

The ALS scandal involved a single contract intended
to save £5 million. It only affected the small fraction of cases in which
interpreters are required. The mind boggles at the thought of the same ministry
being let loose on 400 separate contracts, in a scheme affecting practically
every criminal case in the country.

Before signing the ALS contract the Ministry of
Justice was warned that it would be a disaster. It ploughed on regardless. It
is heading for a far bigger disaster now, and it cannot say that it was not
warned."

The Government has said
it will not investigate a firm which failed to send a Mandarin interpreter for
a court appearance of murder suspect, Anxiang Du.

Capita, the firm contracted by the Ministry of
Justice to provide foreign interpreters in courts, was branded a “disgrace” by
a High Court Judge last week after Du’s latest court appearance had to be
adjourned.

Du, aged 54, was due to enter pleas for charges of
murdering Jifeng Ding, his wife Helen, and their two children Xing, aged 18,
and Alice, aged 12.

During the plea and case management hearing at
Nottingham Crown Court, at which Anxiang Du was present, the High Court Judge
explained he had asked for an interpreter to be booked.

However, he said the firm indicated it was not
worth sending one as they “would not make enough money” from the hearing.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We have
worked with Capita to make dramatic improvements in the interpreter service,
saving taxpayers £15 million last year. These kinds of issues are now rare.”

The court heard the firm had been ordered to send
an interpreter, but when the hearing started at 2pm there was no interpreter
present and therefore no pleas were entered.

The Mandarin interpreter did eventually arrive at
about 2.30pm, but the hearing had already finished and she left the court
precincts soon afterwards.

Mr Justice Flaux said: “To say that the presiding
judge of the court is annoyed about this is an understatement.”

Instead a fresh plea and management hearing is to
be held at Northampton Crown Court in July.

Northampton North MP, Michael Ellis, himself a
barrister, labelled the debacle as an “outrage and a disgrace”.

However, a Capita spokesman denied the firm had
refused to send an interpreter.

He said: “After the original interpreter booked to
attend the hearing was unable to attend, Capita worked to secure a replacement.

“The replacement interpreter could not attend until
2.30pm and we communicated this, in good time, to the court. Capita at no time
refused to arrange an interpreter to attend Nottingham Crown Court on cost or
any other grounds.”

Monday, 20 May 2013

Courts are being disrupted on a ‘daily basis’ as
interpreters continue to boycott the private sector contract for translation
services, despite a peace move by the Ministry of Justice, an interpreters
group claimed this week.

The ministry last month revealed that it would foot
the bill for a 22% rise in payments made to court interpreters in a bid to
attract more to work under a controversial contract with Capita that has been
blamed for widespread disruption over the past 15 months.

Professional Interpreters for Justice, an umbrella
group of interpreters’ organisations that oppose the contract, said their
members have rejected the new deal and will still not work for the company.

The group wants to see the contract, which has been
criticised by two high-profile parliamentary committees and the National Audit
Office, scrapped.

The group claims that ‘incidences of interpreter
no-shows and poor-quality interpreting’ are disrupting courts on a ‘daily
basis’.

A hearing in a quadruple murder case at Nottingham
Crown Court was postponed this month after a Mandarin interpreter booked for
defendant Anxiang Du failed to turn up.

Mr Justice Flaux told the court that his clerk had
received a message saying it was ‘not worthwhile’ for the interpreter to turn
up because they ‘would not make enough money’. He described the situation as ‘a
complete disgrace’.

A Capita spokeswoman said the firm at no time
refused to provide an interpreter on ‘cost or any other grounds’.

She said: ‘After the original interpreter booked to
attend the hearing was unable to attend, Capita Translation and Interpreting
worked to secure a replacement.

‘The replacement interpreter could not attend until
2:30pm and we communicated this, in good time, to the court.’